4.5 Mission to Serbia financial reports, and using Excel to analyse financial data This course, now an integral part of the MoI’s specialized training programme, is a result of the two-and-half year project “Enhancing Capacities of the Serbian Police to Fight Corruption”. This activity was part of the Mission’s wider efforts to strengthen the skills and knowledge of the police in fighting corruption and other forms of economic crime. On 17 and 18 November, the Mission organized a seminar together with the Serbian Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering. The event brought together 42 market inspectors responsible for reviewing the compliance of real estate and leasing agents with their obligations under legislation regarding anti-money laundering/countering financing of terrorism. The seminar also sought to harmonize the inspectors’ review work and enhance the efficiency of court proceedings. This initiative was part of the Mission’s wider efforts to equip state institutions to better prevent, detect and fight corruption. Gender and Ethnic Mainstreaming From 25 to 27 April and from 4 to 6 May, the Mission supported the organization of two workshops for the Working Group tasked with developing the second National Action Plan for implementation of the UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The group consists of 16 members and is chaired by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Sports and Youth. It gathered MoI, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Administration and local self-government, civil society representatives, as well as independent experts. The purpose of these workshops was to define the structure of the second action plan and prepare a draft for the wider consultations process. This initiative is a part of the Mission’s wider efforts to facilitate gender mainstreaming in the security sector, primarily in the police. On 24 and 25 October, the Mission, together with the MoI and the Swedish National Police Board Programme, organized a roundtable on women in police and the importance of networking. The event aimed at assisting the MoI in the process of establishing the National Network of Policewomen. Participants included some sixty participants from the MoI and ten from the police services of BiH, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, and the UK. Representatives from these police services shared experiences on the functioning and set-up of national and regional women’s police associations. This activity was part of the Mission’s wider efforts to support the MoI’s organizational development and to foster a representative, democratic police service that provides equal opportunities for women. Community Policing, Police-Public Relations and Crime Prevention From 27 to 29 January, the Mission organized a roundtable “Community Policing: Lessons Learnt” for all Community Liaison Officers (CLOs) from police districts across Serbia. The event gathered some sixty participants, including CLOs from police districts and representatives of the Uniformed Police Directorate. The event enabled the district-level practitioners to share best practices on crime prevention, following the implementation of the 15 local action plans that the Mission supported in 2015. Discussions focused on improving community safety and crime prevention. This activity aimed to strengthen effective and accountable relations between communities and police services through community policing. In March, the Mission, together with the MoI, local self-governments, and Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM), launched a series of seven roundtables on presenting the standardized model of MSCs. The purpose of the roundtables were to present the MSCs as the main tool for developing a police-public partnership at local level, which enables a sharing of responsibility when addressing local security issues. All seven roundtables gathered representatives of 170 municipalities and towns and 27 police districts across Serbia. Senior representatives of the MoI’s Uniformed Police Directorate, SCTM and the Mission presented the MSC model and the handbook on how to set up an MSC, developed in 20152. In addition, some positive Serbian examples of functioning Councils and their importance for enhancing safety of citizens at the local level were shared with the participants. This activity was part of the Mission’s overall efforts to foster an effective and accountable relationship between the community and the police through the implementation of the community policing concept. On 16 and 17 May, the Mission, together with the CSO “Media & Reform Centre”, conducted six focus group interviews with Roma, women, urban, rural, and youth citizens of Niš on local safety issues in the city. This activity was part of a citizen perception survey on local safety that will serve as a basis for the Municipal Safety Council of Niš to further develop their strategy on tackling local safety issues through partnerships between the police and other local stakeholders. On 29 November, the Mission, together with the CSO “Media and Reform Centre Niš,” presented the findings from a public perception survey on local safety to the members of the Niš City Safety Council. The event gathered approximately 20 people, including representatives of the police, local self-government, prosecution, the centre for social welfare, health institutions, school administrations 2 82 The Mission, in close co-operation with MoI and SCTM, developed ‘The Handbook on Municipal Safety Councils”, in November 2015.